Monthly Archives: August 2007

Most of it can be heard many places, but she says one thing really neat. Normally, we’re taught to pray to the Holy Spirit to guide *us* in making a good confession. But she suggests praying for the priest, as well, that he be a good confessor, and she says it’s had amazing results.

If you are battling depression, addiction, or sin, or if you’ve been away from the Church a while and are coming back, Fr. Corapi’s talks can be a very powerful help, especially if you listen to them in conjunction with doing the Spiritual Exercises, which I will be posting for thirty days, starting today.

An excellent column from Judie Brown on the fight over the Gonzalez v. Carhart decision, and how the Colorado Right to Life ad was not an “attack” on James Dobson, but a “wake up call”:

Mrs. Thatcher once reminded her countrymen that when consensus among aparticular group of people becomes more important than the principles upon whichthat group of people claims to stand, “abandoning all beliefs, principles,values and policies” is the result. Such appears to be the case among those whohave for so long supported a politically-motivated effort that has resulted innothing of substance.

And here’s what Dr. Alan Keyes had to say about it:

I am of course not surprised or dismayed that there should be disagreementamong pro-lifers. I have been deeply disappointed, however, that instead ofanswering the lucid arguments being made by people like Judie Brown and myself,the Gonzales v. Carhart cheering section has chosen petty maneuvers and powerplays aimed at damaging or silencing their critics.

Now, the same can be said of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

If you go through the staff and membership of the Pontifical Academy for Life, you will see many names from the USA. Many are people I’ve never heard of. One is John Haas of National Catholic Bioethics Center. One is Dr. Thomas Hilgers of the Paul VI Institute (Creighton Method and NaPro Technology). Down at the bottom, under “Correspondents,” you will see the name of Judie Brown, the executive director of American Life League, who is currently serving a second term in the PAL.

“We accept the urgency and difficulty of this task, knowing well that Christians are called to be active in the real world of today: uncertain and changing, tempted to sacrifice transcendence to immanence and the supreme values to prosperity, they are also prompted to take refuge in pragmatic and utilitarian conventionalism, rather than to ally themselves with truth and reason. However, our hope is based not only on help from the Lord of life but also on the conviction that the sacred value of human life can be recognized in the natural law alone, written in the human heart, disregard for which is at the root “of a tragic obscuring of the collective conscience’ (Evangelium vitae, n. 70).”

The usual defense of incrementalism is based upon a passage from John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical _Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)_. In it, he states that a politician, who is known to have “absolute personal opposition to procured abortion” may in good conscience vote for measures which will restrict or limit abortions when there is no other alternative (paragraph 73.3). That does not say that Catholic politicians *should* pursue an overall “incrementalist” agenda, but merely that they can vote for incrementalist laws while actively working for a more immediate end to legalized abortion and contraception. It certainly does not mean that a Catholic can actively support an agenda or organization which leaves exceptions in its ultimate goals (e.g., “outlaw abortions except in cases of rape, incest or life of the mother” or “I favor outlawing abortion, but not contraception”).

Earlier in the document, he writes that, in response to the popular acceptance of legalized abortion,

“we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception” (paragraph 58.2; my emphasis bold).

He later says,

“In the proclamation of this Gospel, we must not fear hostility or unpopularity, and we must refuse any compromise or ambiguity which might conform us to the world’s way of thinking (cf. Rom 12:2)” (82.3; my emphasis).

In February, 2000,Pope John Paul II gave an address to commemorate the fifthanniversary of _Evangelium Vitae_, in which he says (my emphasis bold),